Tier 2 work permit to ILR by marriage to British citizen

[Divu]

Hello Friends!

Please can someone guide me on this situation. I am currently on my Tier 2 work permit (extension) and it expires in 2019. However, I am going to get married to my partner who is a British citizen. I have been in UK since 2010 (Tier 4 - post study - Tier 2 route) and my 10 years finishes at 2020.

Will I be eligible for an ILR if I marry him? Which will relieve me work restrictions or I need to wait for the natural 10-year route.

I don’t really know where to start as the documents are a bit confusing and does'nt specific this particular switch from Tier 2 to ILR, unless I am looking at the wrong documents. I read about applying for a spouse visa for 2ish years and then extend again to be eligible for an ILR? Not sure if this applies to me?

Please can one of you guide me in the right direction? Thank you in advance!

Kind Regards
Divya

[CR001]

Will I be eligible for an ILR if I marry him?

No you cannot apply for ILR simply because you marry a British citizen.

Which will relieve me work restrictions or

To qualify for ILR based on 5 years residence you need 5 years on Tier 2 and you must meet the requirements for ILR.

I need to wait for the natural 10-year route.

Your choice. You could apply for a spouse settlement visa on form FLR(M) which will count towards Long Residence ILR too or 2 x FLR(M) visas for 5 years residence ILR.

You will qualify for Tier 2 route ILR next year in September based on one of your (many) previous posts, here (click)

[Divu]

Hello CR001!

Thank you very much for your response! I was under the impression that I can’t apply for an ILR through my 'Tier 2-5 years' route as I don’t satisfy the salary requirements (35,000 ish?!).

I called the home office before this post and they suggested it will be better if I stay in this Tier 2 visa as I would become eligible for the ILR next year as you mentioned. But when I asked them about the salary eligibility, they couldn’t really guide me any further! Hence all this confusion.

They also said, if I apply for the spouse visa, my ILR time will re-calculate again for 5 years.

I referenced this document which explains how the 5 years is calculated, but still a bit iffy about everything: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... sed-system

I would like to free myself from the Tier 2 general as soon as possible so I can progress towards new jobs.

Thanks again for your help!
D

[CR001]

1. If you don't meet the ILR salary requirement, your ILR will be refused.

2. You cannot combine different visa categories to make up 5 years for ILR. You need 5 years as Tier 2 OR you need 5 years as spouse visa. Combining different visas for ILR is ONLY applicable to ILR based on 10 years long residence. The link you have provided is the immigration rules and are fairly clear.

3. If you wish to change jobs, then you could apply for a spouse visa on FLR(M) if you choose to.

[Divu]

Thank you so much for your response!

I assume my only way around now would be to apply for a spouse visa and wait for 2 more years to complete and apply for the 10 years route by combining all my visa’s together!